Stephen Fearing
Yellowjacket
True North Records
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This is Canadian Stephen Fearing’s 8th album, and as is his wont he is stretching his boundaries, pushing past limits ever further to open up new panoramas to explore with his material. For the first time in awhile he has assumed the role of producer, thus taking the bulk of responsibility and placing it on himself, and it is a role he wears well as it is a consistent and cohesive disc. He either wrote or co-wrote all of the songs but one, and that is, Goodnight Moon, written by Will Kimbrough. There is a very relaxed feeling to the disc, it doesn’t take away from the tensions created in the songs but the overall feel is one of an easy unique smoothness that is contagious. He has enlisted the aid of many friends: Colin Linden and Tom Wilson his partners in Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Jeff Bird (Cowboy Junkies), Josh Finlayson (The Skydiggers) with who he
co-wrote many of the songs, and to name but and Richard Bell, to help hang the flesh on these songs.
These 11 songs reflect the life that he is now living – the loves, the sorrows, the road and its many adventures, and friends and what they provide. There is that ease of delivery and smoothness that dictates the tempo and pace of this disc. It is quiet reflection more than hurried urgency, where taking the time to reflect life provides the rich diversity of these songs